We’re told CNN flew into a panic on Friday after it accidentally aired a fake National Enquirer cover during Jake Tapper’s broadcast.

Tapper did a segment on his “The Lead” show about Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski’s claim that Donald Trump tried to blackmail them with a hit piece in the National Enquirer.

During the piece, it showed a cover from the tabloid, which seemed to be about a scandal involving GOP senator Ted Cruz and his wife, Heidi Cruz.

Unfortunately, the cover is — literally — fake news.

The cover — which has the headline “Heidi Cruz: Betrayed by Cheating Husband!” and promised details on a “sordid threesome, sleazy love letters and sensational photo proof — has never appeared on the National Enquirer, according to sources at the magazine.

It seems that it may have been created as clickbait.

We’re told the network is taking the matter seriously, and that it has been referred to the networks standards and practices department for review.